Sex Offender on the Run for 18 Years Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison on Appeal

On the run for 12 years after the 2006 crime
Arrested four years before statute of limitations by citizen's report
"Avoided judicial procedures... Original sentence appropriate"
Order to disclose personal information for seven years also upheld

A man in his 50s who committed a sex crime 18 years ago and was on the wanted list for 12 years has been sentenced to 15 years in prison on appeal, the same as his initial sentence.

According to the legal community on May 2, the Gwangju High Court Criminal Division 1 (Presiding Judge Kim Jinhwan) on the previous day sentenced Kim (54), who was indicted on charges of violating the Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes and Protection of Victims (including aggravated rape), to 15 years in prison, the same as in the first trial, and dismissed both Kim's and the prosecutor's appeals. The court also upheld the order for disclosure and notification of personal information for seven years.

Kim was indicted for breaking into a house in Mokpo, Jeonnam, in September 2006 and raping two women he did not know, then fleeing the scene. Immediately after the crime, he evaded police investigation by fleeing to an area where he had no connections, and from 2012, he was on the National Police Agency's most-wanted list for 12 years.

He evaded capture by moving around the country, working as a day laborer and living in gosiwon accommodations. In July last year, he was apprehended in Seoul after a citizen reported him, just four years before the statute of limitations was set to expire.

The appellate court stated, "The defendant broke into the home of victims he did not know and committed a sex crime, then evaded judicial procedures for about 18 years by fleeing. Considering all sentencing factors, the first trial's decision cannot be considered lenient."